M1 30 bandolier ammo

[gatorwade]

Anyone finding the LC50 bandoliers for sale these days? 120 rounds for about 60 bucks a few years ago. I have some. Should I save it because it will never be available again. It is pretty good ammo, at least in my carbines.

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[TBIRD430]

I'd save it....

[USGI]

On the LC50, was there just the one "charger" included rather than having the charger integral with the each stripper clip? I guess I never knew when they switched from the "early style" to the "late." Probably have it in one of my books somewhere. - Bob

[browningautorifle]

As far as I know they didn't switch. It always had the clip guide attached. It was the ,223 that changed to separate mag charger and clips. Never heard of the clips and charger being separate for M1/2.

[USGI]

At least some Vietnam era bandoliers had the guide separate from the stripper clips. It was fastened to the cloth with a safety pin. I need to go hit the books to see if I can find a date when this change was made. - Bob

[browningautorifle]

That'll be interesting to see.

[USGI]

I've got one "old style" bandolier LC 13328 which is from the Korean War era. The "new style" that I have is marked LC-50-276 Jul '72. WarBaby III doesn't give a specific date for the change - just that WWII and Korea are the early type, and the new type is circa Vietnam. The terms they use for the parts are: strippers, and charger/loaders - "guide" sounds better to me. - Bob

[Bruce McAskill]

The LC-50 with the charger is Korean war time frame. In the early 1960's they developed the system that became standard with the 5.56. The single adapter and the 10 rounds on a stripper. While the first ones were WW2 developed they were really never used before the war ended.

[USGI]

One thing I forgot to mention earlier is that the carboards are different on the later ones - more of a sleeve type arrangement, rather than the earlier separator. - Bob

[browningautorifle]

It does make sense though to change to the type used on M14 and M16...always thought it was a bit of a waste of metal to do it the way they did.